I'm sure that there are sites like TheStreet.com which provide news analysis, etc. that make some decent money. What I was referring to was sites that sell trading systems or chat room memberships. Anyways, this stuff doesn't really interest me all that much at this point. It is interesting to figure out that you can make millions of dollars selling dating tips though... I wouldn't have figured it for that big of a business, especially with a site that looks like the one that was provided. I was afraid I was going to get a virus when I first hit the page...
Why exactly are you still paying this guy money? When it's running up or down strongly like this, all you have to do is wait for a retracement and buy and/or short and hold! This isn't rocket science. Here's what you do: Take today's chart from just after the Fed announcement into the close. Construct a set of indicators and/or trendlines or whatever you want, that will define a trading system for you. This system will assume that the market is running strongly in one direction, and will continue to do so. Make sure that the system has a well-defined set of rules for identifying pull-backs, and decent entry points... as well as a final exit condition when it identifies that the trend is over. (NOTE that you cannot catch the absolute bottom with this, so don't try!) Then, the next time you see the market running, switch over to trading this system. It should have a rule for a pullback, so you wait for that to occur. Then you get in. Then you get out when the final exit rule tells you to get out. (Alternatively you can construct a set of rules to allow you to get in and out on each retracement, but depending on the instrument you're trading that may not be practical or wise to attempt. I wouldn't try it with ES.) Go over the chart from today and construct such a system (i.e. just assume that you knew in advance that the market was going to run the way that it did, and figure out what indicators or signals you would have used to take advantage of it.) Once you have this defined, the next time you notice that the market is running, just USE IT. The worst thing that will happen is that you will get stopped out on one trade if you happen to enter near the very end of the major trend move. That probably won't happen to you more than 1 time in 5, and the 4 times that you don't get stopped out you'll make a hell of a lot more money than the little bit you will lose every once in a while when you have the bad luck to catch the very end of the trend. That's how you trade trends. What you DON'T do is just sit there all day watching it! If your teacher can't figure out how to get in on a strong trend, he is totally useless. Conditions like this don't come along that often, so when the market is running you have to take advantage of it. Figure it out.
He IS making money off you... LOL I'm sure he said "very choppy". Will wait for confirmation, etc... Sounds like a total fraud scam
The irony is that he's been talking about transitioning into doing intraday trend-trades (instead of mere scalps) for the past month. I'll definitely be reviewing tonights video (he makes videos of every trading session) to review exactly why he didn't take any trades after the market rolled over. In retrospect, it seems to me that when upward move had been erased, someone who knows what they're doing should have shorted. He's been afraid of snap-back rallies on the short side for the past several weeks, since the daily trend has been up, and that fear has kept him out of trouble, except that today was different in that the snap backs should have been shorted. I'll see what I can do about coming up with a simple system with a couple of indicators (maybe using moving averages) to profit from a day like today. Near today's top, I actually wanted to go short a few contracts around 1073 at around 2:45 EST on the 2nd attempt to get back to today's high (which failed) but I wimped out. (the fact that I'm down big for the year makes me wimp out a lot lately) The trader in charge of the room never takes "countertrend" trades like that. He always goes in the direction of whatever the currently established trend is, and he's super-picky about when to take a trade (virtually to a fault).
Not taking a short at 1073 is one thing. The market hadn't fully broken down at that point. But after it spiked down through 1072 on heavy volume, all the way to 1068.50 or so, and then retraced back to the 1072 area on lighter volume, you should have shorted there. You could have waited for the trendline to break on that bear flag, or you could have had some indicator that told you that the trend was resuming (like a short MA over longMA crossover, or something). If you draw a trendline between the peak above 1075 and the lower high at 1073.75, that retracement rally pretty much came back and slammed into that trendline at 1072.50 before continuing back down. Any one of these methods would have gotten you short on the retracement. Wait for the trend to start, wait for the first pullback, and get in. ALSO: He can be picky about trading only with the trend, and that's fine - but this trend has been in place since 990,and has shown topping signs lately. If he knew anything, he should have been prepared for the possibility of a reversal.
Dude, use your brain. He's been talking about transitioning to trend trades for the past month? Maybe you haven't noticed, but the market has rallied 8.5% from 990 to 1075 in the past few weeks, with multiple days that would have been suitable for trend trading, including today's reversal. Exactly when do you suppose he's going to start taking advantage of this? It doesn't get too much better than this under normal circumstances... just about every morning there are a few trend opportunities if you know how to grab them. Maybe you should STOP PAYING HIM.
Good question, since I'm still losing money from being in the room when you factor in commission and the subscription fees. If not for one botched trade that I got stopped out (likely my fault because at the time I was trying to manage another trade) I'd probably be at break-even. The most /ES points I've ever made on a single trade in the room is probably a little over 1 point....maybe 1.5 points. I see what you mean about the trendline from the 1075.75 to 1073.75. Looking at the charts he uses, it looks like he could have gotten in using his own system, on a pullback to the shortest-term moving averages that he uses on either the 5 or 15 minute charts which are the two shortest term charts he prefers. He could have then gradually scaled out of the trade at a profit, or moved his stop below break-even and let it ride and then scaled out. He was too concerned about snap-back rallies and the trend not being established enough, and it being late in the day, etc.
If he was concerned about snap-back rallies, he obviously can't read price action very well. Besides, that's what stops are for... you take a position near a trendline, and if it breaks through and goes the other way, no big deal, it's a small loss. The risk/reward ratio is fine on a move like that. It sounds to me as though he's trading like a newbie who has no confidence in his own ability to make calls. Every trade you take is a call on market direction, and there's nothing wrong with being wrong - you just get stopped out. The opportunity cost of missing a trend move like this is far greater than the cost of one stop-out. I will be blunt: if after months of trading with this guy, you pay him one more dime for an October subscription, then YOU are the idiot. You have more than enough evidence to dump this guy at this point, so if you don't do it then it's your own fault. Trust your own instincts and develop your own trading system... you will be a lot better off.